Along with the rapid increase of textual and multimedia contents on the Internet and other data networks and systems, a user has become increasingly dependent on keyword-based search tools to find required information. A user normally enters a keyword of an inquired document into a search tool or search engine, which then performs a search in an indexed database and returns a search result. Generally, existing search tools or search engines may further display, on a current result page, one or more keywords related to the user input keyword (i.e., the primary keyword).
Generally, the following two methods are used in existing technologies to display related keywords.
1. A fixed number of related keywords are displayed according to a static display of the primary keyword.
According to this method, the number of user-selectable related keywords is fixed. For example, Google only displays ten keywords related to a primary keyword on a result page. In practice, a large number of related keywords may be obtained based on the primary keyword. The search methods that have a limited number of related keywords cannot satisfy the needs of a user and two provide effective hints to the user, and result in a poor user experience.
2. An offer for a further search for related keywords is displayed.
According to this method, a further search using related keywords which are not displayed on a current result page is offered. The display of related keywords on Baidu.com is an example. Upon displaying nine keywords related to a primary keyword, an option of “more relevant search” is provided. A user can perform a further search for all related keywords by clicking the links, and go to web page(s) displaying the related keywords. Evidently, this way of displaying related keywords requires a user to go through a number of steps and has complicated operations, and thus do not conform to the habits of the user.
As a result, there is a pressing need for those skilled in the art to obtain related keywords for a user in a simple and comprehensive manner.